


when you sleep

by melonpanparade



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, post snk 51
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 11:44:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2387108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonpanparade/pseuds/melonpanparade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somewhere along the way, they’ve developed strikingly similar habits without realising it.</p><p>Alternatively, the one where they both watch each other sleep (in a non-creepy way) at different times of the night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when you sleep

**Author's Note:**

> First watch: 2000 to 0000  
> Morning watch: 0400 to 0800  
> (Based on the traditional Royal Navy watch system)
> 
> Originally posted on tumblr [here](http://melonpanparade.tumblr.com/post/82985206842).

Armin’s always been a morning person. There’s something surreal in watching the world wake up—seeing the colours of the sunrise painted in the sky, feeling the mild warmth from the first rays of sunlight filtering through the leaves, listening to birds herald the start of a brand, new day. And so he volunteers to take the morning watch, solemnly taking in the proof that there’s another day ahead of them. It’s sobering to acknowledge the challenge to remain alive for another day.

There are downsides to his morning schedule, Armin admits. Nights are crammed; a watch at four requires him to sleep not long after dinner, and he’s usually stuck with clean up duty. He easily talks with whoever else is on clean up duty with him, but it’s never Jean. Jean’s exempt since he’s taken the first watch. And as a result, they rarely spend their evenings together any more.

But when he wakes up for his shift—Armin’s favourite part of the morning—Jean’s bed is next to his, and if he’s lucky, Jean is the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes. If not, then he turns over in his bed so that Jean takes up his line of vision. It’s still dark out, but the beams of moonlight are enough for Armin to observe the steady rise and fall of Jean’s chest—a sure sign that he’s alive. That’s all he needs, really. Jean’s near brush with death has left Armin with a need to see him alive and well. The first time he watches Jean sleep, an inexplicable sense of relief washes over him and he feels like he can finally breathe again. Seeing Jean’s mussed hair or the way he dribbles when his head is turned to the side is just a bonus. Armin decides he’s staring for reasons other than reassurance when he finds the image of Jean snoring mildly endearing.

 

* * *

 

Jean prefers the night. He doesn’t trust himself to be as alert as he’d like to be in the early hours of the morning, and he doesn’t want to compromise the lives of others if he can help it.  And so he takes the first watch, deeming a day satisfactory if it ends without any casualties. The quiet of the night often puts him in a contemplative mood. More often than not, he thinks about Armin yelling a warning before a titan renders him unconscious, thinks about waking up with a throbbing head injury and Armin fussing next to him, thinks about the circumstances that transpired to forge a bond so strong and full of mutual trust and respect.

When he’s not thinking about Armin, Jean surveys the sky, wondering for the nth time what their pathetic lives look like from the vantage point of the stars. He finds some kind of small comfort in the fact that the titans must seem so small and insignificant from way up there, the same way humans must seem small and insignificant to titans. He absentmindedly entertains the possibility of travelling high and long enough in the sky to avoid the titans all together. It’s filed away as a future conversation topic with Armin, because Armin listens and is ambitious and innovative in ways he can’t completely comprehend.

Jean ambles back to the shared room after a quick shower. Tonight, like every other night since they’ve arrived, he gratefully sinks down on the edge of his bed to face Armin’s sleeping figure. A mixture of hope, awe, and appreciation courses through him. And perhaps a bit of fondness, Jean realises belatedly, when he subconsciously reaches out to brush away the stray strands of hair that cause Armin’s nose to twitch every time he inhales.

 

* * *

 

“You know, you snore.” It’s an offhand comment said while the two of them gather firewood, one that Jean doesn’t expect.

“Huh?”

“And you dribble,” Armin points out. Jean can’t argue with that. Waking up with saliva smeared all over his cheek happens more often than he’d like to admit.

“Yeah? Well, you—” Jean pauses to chop firewood in an attempt to gain an extra bit of thinking time. “Your hair looks like a yellow mop when you sleep.” He doesn’t mention that it’s ridiculously soft.

Armin laughs in delight. It only takes Jean a moment to grasp the underlying meaning of their conversation, and then he’s chuckling alongside Armin.

_I watch you when you sleep._

_So do I._


End file.
